Notre Dame

With teams vying for four playoff spots and bowl game placements, this weekend can either cause a big shakeup or solidify seeds/rankings to both the bowl game and playoff picture. While there are many top matchups this weekend to watch, let’s look at the 5 must-watch games that have the most at stake for the teams playing in them.

There is no disputing which game deserves the Heisman spotlight game this week. Notre Dame and Florida State will offer the biggest stage for a pair of Heisman Trophy candidates, Everett Golson of Notre Dame and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner from Florida State, Jameis Winston.

Until Notre Dame proves it can beat one of the elite programs in college football on a grand stage, the overall assessment of Notre Dame will be that it is good, but not good enough. But this season appears to be up for grabs with plenty of surprises still to come. Can Notre Dame offer one more surprise?

Nic Dowd scored with 2:39 left in overtime to give St. Cloud State a 4-3 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night the NCAA West Regional semifinals. Dowd, a Hobey Baker Award finalist who leads the Huskies with 22 goals, fired a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Steven Summerhays high. “At this point, any shot’s a good shot,” said Dowd, whose Huskies (22-10-5) will play top-seeded Minnesota on Sunday for a spot in the Frozen Four. The Gophers beat Robert Morris 7-3.

The Minnesota Vikings will release veteran tight end John Carlson after two injury-marred seasons. A person with knowledge of the decision confirmed Tuesday to The Associated Press that the team will make the move. The person spoke condition of anonymity because the team had not yet finalized the transaction.

Many international destinations close to home may prove to be a better option than South Beach or Miami. Among the best international trips that can be done in a weekend are the Bahamas, Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Montreal and Vancouver.

Finally in the NFL, Manti Te’o is looking to give football fans everywhere reasons to forget about his fake girlfriend scandal. His performance with the San Diego Chargers may be just the thing to jolt his name back to football relevance.

Minnesota native Michael Floyd was a first round NFL Draft pick back in 2012. The Arizona Cardinal wide receiver was hot in high school at Cretin-Derham Hall, blossomed at Notre Dame and is now hoping to have a break-out sophomore season in the NFL.

Notre Dame will join the Atlantic Coast Conference starting next season, a year earlier than expected, following the split among the Big East’s football schools and seven Catholic schools that forming their own basketball-focused conference.

A story about Manti Te’o’s girlfriend dying of leukemia, which the Notre Dame All-American credited with inspiring him as he led the Fighting Irish to the BCS title game, turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker, the school said Wednesday.

Harrison Smith is becoming one of the most complete safeties in the NFL. There are very few that can hit as hard as him while possessing the ball skills to turn errant throws into turnovers. He is making it scarier to play against the Vikings defense.